Requirement: Responses should be typed and should be approximately 2 pages.
CASE PREPARATION QUESTIONS
As you read all of the cases for this course, think about the following broad questions:
What are the pertinent facts in the case?
What is/are the primary problem (s)?
What are the causes of the problem (s)?
What are the alternatives for action?
What action would you recommend?
1. Dealing with a Toxic Boss
1. Comment on the emotional intelligence of the main characters in the case, Ned and Bill.
2. In what way(s) does Bill affect the emotions of others? What are the performance implications for the company?
3. Apply affective events theory to the case. How can AET help explain Ned's behavior?
4. Evaluate how John (the company president) handled this situation. Do you agree/disagree with his approach?
Caribbean Bauxite
1. Is Baker making an internal or external attribution when interpreting Rennals behaviors?
2. Do either Baker and/or Rennals appear to be committing any perceptual errors? Explicitly refer to the type of error(s) in your response. Give case examples to support your views.
3. Given what you know about performance assessments and appraisal mechanisms, indicate what Baker did well/poorly in this session. Note the extent to which Baker used feedback effectively.
4. What should the company do (Baker? Hutchins? Others?) in light of the outcome? What are the ethical implications of each recommendation? (Note: Make sure you discuss the pro's/con's associated with each recommendation strategy..)
SAS Institute
1. To what extent does SAS rely on extrinsic motivation of employees? Does SAS offer rewards similar to what other firms in the industry offer?
2. To what extent does SAS rely on intrinsic motivation of employees? Apply the job characteristics model (JCM) to analyze a typical job within SAS.
3. Applying Self-Determination Theory (SDT), does SAS appear to be doing a good job managing employee motivation?
4. Comment on the key challenge SAS faces at the end of the case. Is SAS well-positioned to compete for talent?
MediSys
1.Describe the design of the IntensCare product development team. Who was chosen to be on this team and why? In what way did this team represent a new approach to product development at MediSys?
2. Is this team cohesive? Support your response.
3. Apply the ‘Model of Team Effectiveness' to identify the factors impeding this team's success. 4. Recommendations?
a. What are Merz's options at the end of the case? What should she do to try to get the IntensCare team back on track?
b. What can MediSys do to improve the performance of future teams?
Wendy Peterson
1. Do you think the problems in the case stem primarily from cultural differences between
Wendy and Fred? Why or why not?
2. What is ‘cultural intelligence'? Does Ellen possess cultural intelligence?
3. What type of conflict are Wendy and Fred Wu having? Is this conflict "functional" or "dysfunctional"? Why?
4. If you were Wendy Peterson, how would you respond to Wu's request to have his own sales assistant? What are the pros and cons of your various options?
Tony Hsieh at Zappos
1. Apply Schein's levels of culture model to analyze the culture at Zappos.
2. Describe the socialization process for employees at Zappos.
3. How does Zappos maintain its culture? Describe at least three tactics they use.
4. How will holacracy impact the Zappos culture? Will holacracy have positive or negative effects on culture?
Charlotte Beers
1. What is the vision created for O&M under Charlotte's leadership? What is your assessment of the vision?
2. Is Beers facing any resistance to change within O&M? If so, what is she doing to overcome this resistance?
3. Consider steps 1 - 4 of Kotter's model. Did Beers do a good job carrying out these steps in her change initiative? Or was there room for improvement?
4. Consider steps 5 - 8 of Kotter's model. Did Beers do a good job carrying out these steps in her change initiative? Or was there room for improvement?